DEADLY striker Martin Butler believes he is winning over the Walsall fans who used to jeer him whenever he played against the club that gave him his first break in football.

He was cheered by about 1,000 travelling supporters at Rochdale, where he hit the second-half winner and gave the home defence a torid time throughout.

Butler, making his second Saddlers debut after spells with Cambridge United, Reading and Rotherham, said: "It's been well documented that now I am back here I have something to prove, and the goal takes a bit of pressure off me.

"It meant the fans could drive back down the M6 feeling happy, and they gave me a great reception. Obviously it's much better when they are singing your name."

Butler is forming a useful strike partnership with another newcomer, Hector Sam, who helped set up the winning goal at Spotland.

Butler praised his team-mate, saying: "He did really well, although he was smashed from pillar to post and didn't get any protection from the referee. But the main thing is we kept a clean sheet and won away from home."

Butler feels, however, that Walsall will need to be a shade more ruthless in finishing teams off when they dominate matches for such long periods.

Despite the fine start, he declined to forecast promotion, saying: "That can come back to kick you in the teeth, but if we keep playing like that we'll be OK.

"You can't keep creating the amount of chances we did and not take them, though. You have to take a better ratio of your chances than we did."